When medicine becomes food, how can we ensure our health?

Recently, it was reported that a woman in Guangdong was often troubled by constipation and bloating. She saw a TV advertisement that said that Changrun Tea can clear stool and cure constipation, so she went to the hospital to buy it and took it for more than two years. Recently, she went to the hospital for a checkup due to stomach discomfort and was diagnosed with melanosis coli.

I was really shocked when I first read the report. This incident once again confirmed a view: drug testing; it also caused me to think deeply: that is, when drugs become medicine and food, have we completely lost our vigilance, and how can we ensure our health? Let's talk about the necessity of drug testing and how we can protect ourselves after medicine and food are of the same origin!

01. Why do we need to test medicine?

Testing medicines means verifying the ingredients of the medicines and clearly marking their toxic side effects, rather than mixing them with food and medicine and allowing people to consume them unlimitedly.

There are indeed quite a few effective medicines in traditional medicine, including the ingredients used in the bowel cleansing tea mentioned in the title, such as senna leaves and cassia seeds, which have the function of promoting defecation.

This is a good thing. In fact, modern medicinal chemistry has also analyzed the effective ingredients of these plants, for example, it was found that their important ingredient is anthraquinone.

Anthraquinones have been shown to have laxative, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects (laxatives and antimicrobial and antiinflammatory agents[1]).

For example, this review article "Anthraquinones As Pharmacological Tools and Drugs" provides a good introduction

Although a lot of research has been done, this ingredient itself has a certain degree of physiological toxicity (in fact, all antibacterial ingredients have some physiological toxicity).

Therefore, it should not be consumed in large quantities for a long time on a daily basis.

02. Medicine and food have the same origin

But in real life, we encounter a problem: everyone has certain psychological expectations for long-term drug intake, and understands the potential threats of long-term drug intake to the body.

However, if these medicines become both medicine and food, people will become less vigilant about them, leading them to believe that as food, even if they contain medicinal ingredients, they can be consumed unlimitedly.

As a result, many people have health problems due to excessive intake. In our tradition, we highly respect the idea that medicine and food have the same origin, but we really need to pay attention to these.

For example, many cases of food poisoning are caused by these things, such as some foods containing aristolochic acid, which is nephrotoxic. Another example is apple seeds, which can kill you if you dare to ingest a large amount.

Finally, to lose weight, you must control your diet and move your legs. In special cases, you can use medicine. The same is true for regulating the stomach and intestines. You must eat under the guidance of a doctor, not just every day.

I hope that in the future, various herbal medicines will be able to clearly indicate toxic side effects, intake requirements, etc.

[1]Malik EM, Müller CE. Anthraquinones As Pharmacological Tools and Drugs. Med Res Rev. 2016 Jul;36(4):705-48. doi: 10.1002/med.21391. Epub 2016 Apr 25. PMID: 27111664.